Bluetooth 4.0 Core Specification formally adopted

More than a year since launching Bluetooth 3.0, the Bluetooth SIG has now announced that it has formally adopted Bluetooth Core Specification Version 4.0.

The hallmark feature of Bluetooth 4.0 is the low energy technology that will enable even devices requiring low cost and low power wireless connectivity to use the new Bluetooth standard. Such devices could be used in various areas, like health care, home entertainment, sports, fitness and so on.

Bluetooth 4.0 also features enhanced range, multi-vendor interoperability, and the “ability to run for years on standard coin-cell batteries.”

All Bluetooth SIG members can now submit products for qualification to the Version 4.0 Specification.

“The finalization of Bluetooth low energy wireless technology within the Core Specification is a monumental achievement. Bluetooth wireless technology can now, with the hard work of our members and our world-class qualification program, really do it all,” says Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director, Bluetooth SIG.

The first phone to come with Bluetooth 3.0 (the Samsung Wave S8500) was launched a few months after Specification 3.0 was announced, so it shouldn’t be long until the first Bluetooth 4.0-compatible phone will be released.